Endotoxin-like activities of mycoplasmal lipopolysaccharides (lipoglycans)

Lipoglycans (previously designated lipopolysaccharides) from several species of Acholeplasma and from Thermoplasma acidophilum were examined for endotoxin-like activities as measured by the standard rabbit fever test and the Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay. The lipoglycans from Acholeplasma granularum, Achloplasma laidlawii, Acholeplasma modicum, and Acholeplasma oculi caused a febrile response at concentrations of 1 ng/ml per kg or greater, whereas with control Escherichia coli EC-2 lipopolysaccharides, 6.25 ng/ml per kg was required. Similar results were obtained in the Limulus amoebocyte lysate test. The minimum concentrations in nanograms per milliliter required to stimulate formation of a solid clot were: Acholeplasma axanthum, 0.22; A. granularum, 0.85; A. modicum, 0.51; A. laidlawii, 1.05; A. oculi, 0.74. Standard E. coli 1B lipopolysaccharide required a concentration of 0.125 ng/ml. Thermoplasma lipoglycan was least active, requiring 4.25 ng/ml. Clotting of the Limulus lysate proceeds by the activation by lipopolysaccharide plus Ca(2+) of a proenzyme which cleaves an arginine-lysine peptide bond of the coagulogen. The clotting and amidase activities are inactivated by deoxycholate and can be reactivated by addition of lipopolysaccharide and Ca(2+). As with E. coli 1B lipopolysaccharide, acholeplasmal lipoglycans were shown to restore both clotting and amidase activities of the deoxycholate-inactivated Limulus clotting enzyme. The degree of restoration of amidase activity by mycoplasmal lipoglycans relative to E. coli lipopolysaccharide (1.00) were: A. axanthum, 1.71; A. modicum, 1.22; A. granularum, 0.61; and Thermoplasma, 0.37. The coagulating enzyme, restored with either E. coli lipopolysaccharide or mycoplasmal lipoglycans, was able to react with the synthetic peptide benzoyl-Ile-Glu-(gamma-OCH(3))-Gly-p-nitroaniline (an analog of the coagulogen) or with the purified coagulogen itself to form the clot. The mycoplasmal lipoglycans alone were incapable of promoting these reactions when incubated with the synthetic peptide or with the purified coagulogen, thereby ruling out the contamination of these lipoglycans with proteases capable of cleaving the same Arg-Lys peptide bond of the coagulogen. These results show that acholeplasmal lipoglycans possess endotoxin-like activities. Their passive or active role in disease remains to be established.